"Rock me, baby," the singer growled, intoning the lyrics just like John Lee Hooker. "Rock me all night long. Rock me, baby, like my back ain't got no bone."

The last thing visitors to the James W. Fannin Middle School History Fair probably expected to see was 12-year-old Eric Balderas sitting in the breezeway of the school, belting out the blues and moving his small fingers up and down the neck of a plugged-in guitar.

"Did you hear this little boy? He's great. I've been listening to him all morning," said Joie Campbell, an English teacher at Caprock High School who was visiting the fair with her students.

Eric is starting to get used to that reaction.

"People tell me I play good," he said. "I think that's nice."

Other kids are schlepping out the trash while Eric is getting gigs and collecting tip money at clubs around town. His father, Felix Balderas, said he was leery of taking his pre-teen son into smoky clubs at first.

"The people have been really nice to him," Felix said. "When you're starting out, you have to play clubs and bars. He plays in church, too. He plays whenever and wherever he can."

When he was little bitty, Eric would stare up in rapt adoration as his grandpa played guitar, Felix said. And he paid attention to all of Felix's favorite songs. Early on, he could identify Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and B.B. King.

"Just about all the men on my dad's side are musicians," Felix said. "I guess it's just in him to do this."

One day while he was at school, Eric noticed an ad announcing guitar lessons. Then 7 years old, he went right home and told his dad that he wanted to sign up.

"I got him a little $25 used guitar, thinking that he probably wasn't going to stay with it. You know how kids are. But, the first thing when he'd come home from school, he'd say, 'I've got to practice.' And he'd sit in his room and practice for 30 minutes to an hour every day," Felix said.

As Eric matured in his lessons, the cheap guitar was replaced with three electric guitars and an acoustic. He started booking gigs at clubs on Sixth Avenue as people started paying attention to the little kid with the grown-up talent. Recently, he was invited to play with another 12-year-old guitar whiz from Austin at Club Mayfair's birthday salute to Stevie Ray Vaughn.

"That was fun," Eric said. "They told me I could go with them to Dallas if I wanted to."

A man who saw Eric that night walked into the guitar shop where he practices and brought him a present.

"He said that he thought I was good and he didn't want me to quit playing. So he said he wanted to buy me a guitar, and he bought me a Lone Star Stratocaster," Eric said.

The bright red guitar will sit in its case until it doesn't intimidate him, Eric said.

"I haven't really played it," he said. "I held it once, and it felt really good, but I don't want to hurt it or scratch it."

Eric is home-schooled by his father and spends up to three hours on music some days, Felix said.

"His maturity toward his music is 'I'm serious. I'm going to get it done.' I'm glad he wants to do it and has the discipline. When he plays, he's prepared," Felix said.

Eric knows 50 songs by heart, including his own original song, "Kid's Blues." The lyrics, co-written with Dennis Antel, are a precocious take on chores.

"I take out the trash and do the dishes/But a kid's gotta do what a kid's gotta do/I play this old guitar/And sing these grown-up blues," he sings, his face becoming as serious as can be.

"It gives me a good feeling to play the blues," Eric said. "Some of the songs are not so sad. I like playing for a crowd. I feed off their energy and it makes me play better."

Felix said the family is getting serious about Eric's talent. They plan to start auditioning a backup band for him soon.

"Hopefully, he'll start doing a regular band routine and get more experience and maybe get a recording contract one day," Felix said.

Music has opened doors for him, Eric said, and he's grateful that he's found something he's good at so early in his life.

"It's done a lot for me. It's gotten me noticed. I've made friends and met people. I hope to make a career out of it. But most of all, music just makes me feel good," he said.